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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27062056">Ever After</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/AstariaSnow/pseuds/AstariaSnow'>AstariaSnow</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Homestuck</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Changing POV, Dysphoria, Earth C (Homestuck), Everything is starting to settle, Five years have passed, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Not Epilogue Compliant, Post-Canon, john is depressed, nb roxy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 21:28:01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>13,621</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27062056</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/AstariaSnow/pseuds/AstariaSnow</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Five years after the rest of the team have won the game, a hole is punched through to Earth-C and the five who stayed to fight Lord English come crashing out.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Calliope/Roxy Lalonde, Dave Strider/Karkat Vantas, Jake English/Dirk Strider, Rose Lalonde/Kanaya Maryam, Terezi Pyrope/Vriska Serket</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>39</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Punching a Hole in Spacetime</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I've never really written fanfiction before, so hopefully this is good. I wasn't seeing enough happy Earth-C fics so I figured I'd make the fanfiction I want to see in the world.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jade woke up at three in the morning to someone banging on her bedroom door and shouting.</p><p>“Comeon Jade! Jaadddeee! You need to wake up! Rose says there’s something important about to go down!”</p><p>Jade yanked her door open to find Roxy in the middle of taking a breath to start yelling again. “What’s going on?”</p><p>“Don’know, Rose said we didn’t have time. Now come on.” Roxy grabbed Jade’s hand and she felt a horrible emptiness for the slightest moment as Roxy shadow walked or however their specific brand of teleporting worked. The two burst out into an open field. The two moons overhead gave plenty of light too see by.</p><p>Everyone was there, standing in the middle of a field at three in the morning. Jane was dressed, she must have been pulling a late night. Karkat and Dave were both in their pajamas, John was wearing a hoodie it looked like he had slept in, Jake was missing his glasses, and Dirk had clearly been pulled out of bed so fast he hadn’t had time to grab a shirt. Roxy rushed Jade over to where Kanaya, Callie, and Rose all stood.</p><p>“Oh good, you’re here, just in time.” Rose sounded hectic, like a person who had been pulled from a peaceful sleep because the house was on fire.</p><p>“Rose! Why are we standing in a field? It’s not like it isn’t nice to see everyone, but I think you’re timing could use some work.” Dave was walking over while practically dragging John and Karkat, both half asleep, behind him.</p><p>“Trust me, I don’t appreciate the universe’s timing either. However, to dispense with my normal level of detail for the sake of brevity…”</p><p>“Get to it, Lalonde!”</p><p>“Shut up!” Rang at least three separate voices at Karkat’s interruption.</p><p>“My fellow Seer has managed to get a message to me. In a few moments a tear in space will open above our heads and Terezi, possibly with a few others in tow she wasn’t too clear, will crash through from Paradox Space.”</p><p>That woke everyone up.</p><p>“I’m going to assume the reason you got everyone here was less for reunion purposes and more for backup.” Dirk was now wearing a borrowed shirt that Jake had dug out of his captchalogue.</p><p>“Terezi’s message had a tone to it that implied this was more of an escape than a homecoming, so yes.”</p><p>“I’m not sure about anyone else, but I didn’t have time to grab anything before Roxy dragged me from my warm dry bed into this cold damp field.”</p><p>“Oops, I gotchu Dirk!” Roxy vanished into shadow and reappeared almost instantly holding Dirk’s katana and Jake’s pistols.</p><p>It took about thirty seconds for everyone to get situated, which were twenty more than Rose liked. “Alright, Roxy, on Callie’s mark, go as far away as you can, count ten seconds, and then come back. John and Jane, I’m not sure who’s coming through or how injured they are. You’ll have to catch then and heal them respectively. Jade, you may have to pull people this side. Kanaya and Dave, you’ll have to fix the hole Terezi is about to blow in spacetime. Everyone else, play defense until that hole is closed.”</p><p>“What, do you think English is on the other side?” Karkat demanded.</p><p>Rose gave him a look that shut everybody up.</p><p>Callie pointed at the space above and slightly ahead of them. “About twenty meters up, and five forward from my position. Roxy darling, on the count of three. One, two, three.”</p><p>Roxy vanished into shadow. Everyone flinched as an acid green crack about three meters long split the sky right where the Muse had indicated. Before anyone could so much as move, an orange blur came flying out of the hole and pelted toward the ground. A gust of wind caught them before they made what would have been a bone shattering contact with the Earth. Jade was rocketing up toward the opening. Dave grabbed Kanaya and the two followed. Jade looked up through the hole and after a moment’s hesitation, went through. The green light grew blinding for a moment, and then another person came falling through. Sollux looked like he had taken a swan dive through the other side. John caught him same as the other two. The hole was shrinking rapidly as the time and space players worked. A horrible roar could be heard on the other side. In a flash of green Jade reappeared, this time with Aradia and Davepeta at her side.</p><p>“Close it! Close it!” Jade yelled as the two girls joined the others in closing the gap. It popped out of existence just as Roxy reappeared, leaving the night silent and black.</p><p>Someone was crying. In the silence, it was all anyone heard. Dave set Kanaya gently back on the ground, or at least tried to, in reality she jumped to the ground the second she could and ran over to where Jane was tending to the three trolls that had come hurtling through the tear. Vriska was sitting on the ground, drenched in rainbow blood, cradling Terezi in her arms. Terezi looked very bad, drenched in mostly teal blood, it was hard to tell where she was hurt of if she was even still alive.</p><p>Vriska had obviously been through a lot, enough that she seemed to have forgotten who Jane was or what she could do. There was a shout, and in a flash, Dirk was between Vriska and Jane, holding Vrsika’s blade on his as she lashed out. The fight ended in the same fashion most of the fights in the troll session had, with Karkat screaming at Vriska.</p><p>“What are you doing you bloodthirsty, empty thinkpanned dumbass!? Did English hit you a little too hard on the head? It’s been what, a few hours on your end since you left us, and you’ve already forgotten who half the humans are. Now let Jane revive Terezi before I personally make more work for her!”</p><p>Vriska seemed to realize where she was. It became clear to Rose and a few others that whatever had happened, there hadn’t been time to brief Vriska on the escape plan. At the apparent end of Vriska lashing out like a wounded animal at whoever attempted to get close to her temporarily dead moirail, Jane rushed forward and revived Terezi with a flash of blue light.</p><p>While the other two arrivals cooled off a bit, Aradia, who looked happy, but tired, set down next to Sollux and helped him to his feet.</p><p>“What happened your side? My fellow Seer’s message was quite curt.” Rose had seemed to regain her composer first, as usual.</p><p>“Well let’s see. Everything was lining up quite nicely. Vriska tracked down the weapon we had all been searching for and brought it to the battlefield. But then…” She seemed to be looking for the right words.</p><p>“Everything went sideways?” Rose offered.</p><p>“That’s a way of saying it. Even after the weapon weakened him, only a few of us could get close enough to hurt him.”</p><p>At this point Davepeta sidled up to the two of them. “If I’m not purrstaken, Vriska landed a mortal blow.”</p><p>“She did, but that caused an… unforeseen problem.”</p><p>“Which was?” Rose was curious now.</p><p>“Well, that much power has to have somewhere to go. So, when he finally succumbed to his injuries…”</p><p>“He blew up!” Davepeta finished helpfully.</p><p>“And took the furthest ring with him. I managed to hold the explosion for a few seconds, long enough for Jade to get us out, but the furthest ring is gone.”</p><p>“What about our universe? Could the explosion reach us here?”</p><p>“Not in any way that matters,” Sollux answered this time. “Every moment of this universe existed in its entirety the second the Genithis… Gen-e-sis frog croaked or did its thing or whatever. Not even English can damage a universe after its creation. I’m talking to Rose, right? I still can’t see shit.”</p><p>“Yes, Sollux, it’s nice to see you again.”</p><p>“Did everyone else make it. I heard kk yelling, where’s Kan?”</p><p>“She’s perfectly alright, everyone made it here no worse for wear. You four are the last.”</p><p>“Good, I’m gonna go talk to kk. Don’t worry I know where he is, I’m blind not deaf.” With that Sollux made his way over to where Karkat was still yelling at Vriska.</p><p>Rose needed Aradia to answer one final question, “Does this mean we’re all done? English is gone, the game is over, right?”</p><p>“I think so. I’ll miss paradox space; it was nice to be around everyone for a while before we all had to say goodbye.”</p><p>Karkat coughed loudly enough for everyone to hear, "Yes, sorry to interrupt this long awaited reunion, but now that we're all here, out of the clutches of certain doom, could we possibly reschedule this to some time after the sun has come up? It's great to see everyone, really, but I'm about to pass out."</p><p>There was a general mumble of agreement.</p><p>“I see no problems ahead that we all have to be awake for, anyone else?” Callie and Terezi both shook their heads no. “Good, then I suggest we all go home and figure the rest out in the morning. Katkat, you and Dave have two spare bedrooms, correct?”</p><p>“John’s using one of them. Also why are we the default halfway house?”</p><p>Kanaya helpfully answered, “Rose and I are too busy, as is Jane. Jake and Dirk live on monster island. Roxy and Callie live in a studio. You two are the ones left who have a house.”</p><p>“So, by default then.”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>Jane piped up, “I have a few empty rooms if it’s only for a night or two.”</p><p>Everyone looked at Rose.</p><p>“What, my job is done. I am retired except for emergencies such as the one which has just concluded. You’re all perfectly capable of choosing who’s couch you’ll be crashing on.”</p><p>It ended with Vriska and Terezi crashing at Karkat and Dave’s place, half because they wanted to and half so Karkat could keep an eye on them, and Sollux and Aradia each claiming one of Jane’s spare rooms. Jade had lost her connection to the Green Sun as soon as the hole had closed, which left Roxy the job of teleporting 16 people all over the continent. It took them about twenty minutes to get everyone back, at which point most of them went straight back to bed and proceeded to oversleep their alarms. The outliers were Jane, who still had plenty of paperwork that needed doing, and Roxy and Callie, who went to bed around six in the morning on the average night.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The Afternoon After</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The next day at the Davekat residence.<br/>John Third Person POV.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Just a warning that the end gets a little heavy because Jane talks to John about how he's depressed. Nothing is outright stated, but John being self destructive is still implied.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>John rolled out of bed sometime in the afternoon. He only knew this because the sun was shining straight into his eyes. He slept late, but not normally this late. Putting his legs over the side of the bed, he stretched and yawned, then felt around the side table for his glasses. Once he put those on, he could read the time on his phone. 2pm, that was way too late. He doesn’t want anyone to think he’s slipping again.</p><p>John pulled on his slippers and padded downstairs, where he found Dave and Karkat sitting at the kitchen table, both looking as disheveled as he felt.</p><p>“Sup.” Dave greeted him as he nursed a cup of coffee.</p><p>“Oh, hi. Where’s Terezi and Vriska? That wasn’t some weird dream was it?”</p><p>“I’m not sure what part about Roxy bodily dragging you from bed by your ankles in the middle of the night, only to find out within five minutes that the last of your friends are about to fall out of the sky with English on their asses could possibly register as a dream.” Karkat was nursing a cup of much stronger coffee, luckily for him caffeine worked just as well on Trolls as it did humans.</p><p>“Well then where are they?”</p><p>“Still upstairs. Jane’s up with them. Terezi flew around for two months before she found Vriska. She looks like a mummy fresh from the cursed tomb. She probably brought back a shit ton of anthrax and now we’re all gonna start dying one by one. Didn’t English have a sarcophagus getup? Where’d he even get that?” Dave was about to go on a tangent when Karkat leaned over the table and covered his mouth.</p><p>“What this dipshit means is that Terezi is in bed until further notice on doctor’s orders, and Vriska won’t leave her side. I wouldn’t advise going up there just yet, Vriska nearly bit my head off when I went up to check on them.”</p><p>Dave grabbed Karkat’s hand and pulled it away from his mouth so he could continue talking. “Jane ‘ll give us the lowdown soon enough.” Dave set his mug down on the table, “In the meantime, you should probably check the memo board.”</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“Three words.” Karkat held up three fingers, “Retired, my, ass.”</p><p>----------------</p><p>
  <span class="pesterlog">TT opened memo board Now That Were All Here 13:04</span>
</p><p>
  <span class="rose">TT: I believe, that since everyone who had a chance of making it to Earth C now has, it is time we address a few things.<br/>TT: Namely, what’s left to clean up.</span>
  <br/>
  <span class="dave">TG: whats even left. were done. no ones left in paradox space. were all back in normal space with normal physics no doomed timelines and most importantly no more paradoxes.</span>
  <br/>
  <span class="roxy">TG: rose rose rose. PLEASE tell me we dont have to go back in there and get something.</span>
  <br/>
  <span class="jake">GG: I quite agree with Roxy on this one. I don’t think anyone is itching for a chance to go back now that we’ve escaped.</span>
  <br/>
  <span class="rose">TT: That’s not what I meant.<br/>TT: In fact, I believe you’ll all be quite happy with what I have to say.<br/>TT: Now that every person still alive is out of paradox space, it’s tenuous remaining grip on us has slipped.<br/>TT: Which means one of our now three resident gods of time is correct.<br/>TT: No more paradoxes.<br/>TT: And no more doomed timelines.<br/>TT: As far as I’m aware, we’re home free.</span>
  <br/>
  <span class="karkat">CG: WAIT, SO YOU’RE TELLING ME THAT UP UNTIL LAST NIGHT WE STILL COULD HAVE MANAGED, THROUGH SHEER INEPTITUDE, TO DOOM OURSELVES?</span>
  <br/>
  <span class="rose">TT: In theory, however I believe it would have been quite difficult.</span>
  <br/>
  <span class="karkat">CG: THAT SURE AS SHIT HASN’T STOPPED ANY OF US FROM MANAGING IT BEFORE.</span>
  <br/>
  <span class="roxy">TG: karkat, rose just told us were all safe now for realsies and youre still freakin out.</span>
  <br/>
  <span class="dirk">TT: If you don’t stop doing it in front of her she may use you as one of her case studies.</span>
  <br/>
  <span class="rose">TT: That seems mildly unethical.</span>
  <br/>
  <span class="sollux">TA: Glad t0 see kk hasn’t changed.</span>
  <br/>
  <span class="karkat">CG: FUCK YOU!</span>
  <br/>
  <span class="jade">GG: ill have to catch up on this later. im in the middle of a class!</span>
  <br/>
  <span class="rose">TT: No worries jade, we’ve got all the time in the world.&lt;</span>
  <br/>
  <span class="dave">TG: didnt i revoke your time pun privileges?</span>
  <br/>
  <span class="rose">TT: Sadly it looks like you’ll have to deal with time puns for the rest of eternity dave.</span>
  <br/>
  <span class="rose">TT: Would you like to talk about why time puns bother you so much?</span>
  <br/>
  <span class="dave">TG: alright im gonna leave before you break out those fancy new torture methods you’ve been learning during that masters of yours because i know im the biggest target.</span>
</p><p>
  <span class="pesterlog">TG banned himself from responding to memo</span>
</p><p>
  <span class="rose">TT: It’s a doctorate.</span>
</p><p>----------------</p><p>The memo was short, which was a breath of fresh air compared to the clusterfuck that had happened when everyone arrived at the Alpha session. John supposed having half of everyone busy doing something else makes group discussions quieter.</p><p>“I’m not sure if it’s possible for Rose to retire. I just don’t think she has it in her to not constantly spout vague prophecies.” John slipped his phone back into the pocket of his sweater and pulled out one of the kitchen chairs, flopping down in it.</p><p>“All I care about is that none of us dumbfucks has the ability to send everyone hurtling toward an abrupt death anymore. And let’s be honest, it would have been one of the smucks in this house who sent us hurtling down a doomed timeline on a whim.”</p><p>“Not me. I have way too much practice avoiding doomed timelines. Doomed timelines mean dead Daves start popping up like shitty magician’s assistants in unusual places.”</p><p>“Who did end up dooming the most timelines in our session? I never talked to enough other yous in the dream bubbles to figure it out.”</p><p>“God, I don’t know. I think you and me were pretty tied there, normally with Terezi’s encouragement. Rose did plenty herself, and Jade did almost none, probably because she joined at the last fucking second.” Dave pinched the bridge of his nose, “I’ve got an idea. Let’s not talk about what was in hindsight the worst or at least second worst time of all our lives. Instead, how about we bask in the relief of not being able to get cat’s pawed out of our eternal reward.”</p><p>“Alright, when do you think Jane will be down?”</p><p>Karkat looked pointedly over John’s head, at which point John turned around just in time for a confetti stuffed party favor to go off in his face.</p><p>John heard twin laughs as he got the confetti off his face. Jane and Nannasprite were both grinning in the doorway to the kitchen. Jane was holding a bright blue party favor which Nanna had obviously conjured. “How long have you two been standing there?” He asked as he brushed yet more confetti off his clothes.</p><p>“Long enough to pull the pranksters gambit over to my side!” Jane was beaming.</p><p>“I’ll get a broom dearies. I good prankstress always cleans up after herself.” Nanna zipped away down the hall to go find where Karkat and/or Dave last stuffed anything resembling a broom and dustpan.</p><p>“Based on your high spirits, I take it we can assume Terezi is okay?” Karkat tried his hardest to sound cross, but even John could hear the tones of relief mixed in amongst his usual tone.</p><p>“She’ll be perfectly alright. Terezis lucky she’s a troll and not a human, I doubt she would have made it half as long out there with so few supplies.”</p><p>Karkat coughed awkwardly, “Yeah, we, probably should have checked that before letting her leave.”</p><p>“Well, no lasting harm’s been done. You can all go see her any time, that is if Vriska doesn’t try and murder you for so much as gazing at her moirail.”</p><p>Karkat pulled at Dave’s sleeve. “Come on, I want to go see Terezi.”</p><p>“And…”</p><p>“And someone needs to make sure Vriska and I don’t murder each other in a bloody spectacle worthy of your human roman coliseum. It would upset Terezi.”</p><p>“There’s the catch.”</p><p>“It’s not like you don’t want to see them too, you colossal douche!”</p><p>“Nah, I was just messing with you. You want to come too, John?” he asked before Karkat could pull him out of the room.</p><p>“John will be up in just a minute; I want to catch up for a moment.” Jane interjected before John could say anything.</p><p>John was slightly relieved. He had parted with both Terezi and Vriska on weird terms, and still wasn’t sure what to say to either of them.</p><p>Dave looked between Jane and John and shrugged. “Alright, but I know they’re both gonna want to talk with you so don’t keep them waiting too long.” And with that Karkat finally led Dave out of the room. John could hear them walking up the stairs as Jane sat down in Dave’s empty seat.</p><p>“How are you doing?”</p><p>“Oh, I’ve been fine. What about you?”</p><p>“Splendid! There’s so much work to do, but it’s fun and important. Are you feeling better?”</p><p>Back to John again. Somewhere in the back of his brain he knew there would be no deflecting this conversation. “Yeah, I think so. Being around people has helped.”</p><p>“Good! I’m so sorry most of us have been so busy.”</p><p>“It’s not your fault. Rose and Kanaya have to be with the mother grub all the time, and you’re busy with your thing, and Jade is finally able to go to proper school. I don’t think I’d ever seen her as excited as when she told me she was going to start college.”</p><p>“Speaking of Jade, her semester ends in just three weeks, so she’ll be around the rest of us more for a few months at least.”</p><p>“Yeah, that’ll be nice.”</p><p>Jane was silent for a moment. John played with the string of his hoodie. He knew what Jane was waiting for, and eventually the silence became too much. “I still don’t feel too good.”</p><p>“I’d be shocked if you did.”</p><p>“But I want to feel better.”</p><p>The softest smile he’d ever seen came over Jane’s face, and she reached out to lightly touch the hand that was fidgeting with his clothes, “And that gumption is why you will. It will just take some time.” She stood up, “Now, I believe there are two girls upstairs who have realized they need to make up for almost nine years’ worth of lost time trying to antagonize you.”</p><p>John groaned, but in a clearly joking way, “Do I have to?”</p><p>“Absolutely! Doctors orders.” She reached out a hand, he takes it and she pulled him up and into a hug. “Tell me the second you need anything, okay John? You’re surrounded by people who love you and would do anything for you. Just say the word and any of us will drop whatever we’re doing, okay?”</p><p>John nodded.</p><p>“Good! Now I believe Dave and Karkat need rescuing.” Her words were emphasized by the fact that they could both hear Karkat and Vriska quite clearly through several layers of flooring and drywall.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I really hope the pesterlogs formatted correctly or else that's going to be a pain to read.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Between Aqua and Cobalt</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Rose PoV<br/>Takes place in the brooding caverns at the same time as chapter 2.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I realized halfway through writing this that I had no idea where this fic was going.<br/>So the first few chapter will just be setting with bits of plot sprinkled in. Also I wanted some Rosemary.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Rose sat at her desk in the main cavern. She had put it there so Kanaya and her could still spend time together despite working neigh on constantly. There’s a reason an entire cast on Alternia was dedicated to taking care of the mother grubs for life. It was, to put bluntly, difficult and taxing work. Luckily for everyone, not only were the carapacians up to the task, but during the several hundred years they had skipped, a jade blood and olive blood had both been trained to assist. Kanaya still held superiority however, because even though the other two trolls and carapacians were all older than her, she was the one with an Alternian education.</p><p>Rose stopped looking over as her wife worked and turned back to her own education. Every day she hates herself a little more for how many days of middle school she had skipped. It wouldn’t have mattered in history, because that was different now, or general sciences, because what she does remember was straight up wrong, but it may have helped with math. Fucking math. She could run literary and verbal circles around anyone short of Shakespeare, but for some reason the place she stumbled and fell was math. She was trying really hard to not use her powers, because then she’d just be guessing everything correctly, but sometimes she couldn’t help it. She had always assumed it wouldn’t be too complicated. Dave could do calculus in his head despite never being taught it, and Jade had always said it was easy. So why was it stumping her? She was the goddess of mother fucking light, Nike and Athena reincarnate. Math shouldn’t be this fucking difficult.</p><p>She gave up and guessed the answer. It was nowhere close to what she’d gotten the last five times she’d worked out the problem. Well, whatever. Now she could work backward and find out where she’d messed up.</p><p>Rose had been so preoccupied that she hadn’t noticed her wife come up behind her. “You appear to be frustrated.”</p><p>Kanaya leaned on the back of her chair and Rose looked up to gaze at Kanaya’s face. “As it turns out, skipping half my education due to the world ended has left me behind where I should be for my age.”</p><p>“Well then, it’s a good thing none of that matters.” Kanaya planted a soft kiss on Rose’s forehead. “Maybe I can help.” She leaned over and looked at the papers on the desk.</p><p>“Were you taught mathematics on Alternia?”</p><p>“Some. My cast didn’t have a need for anything too advanced, however. Tell me, why are you learning stuff of this level? Does human psychology require, what’s the word, geometry?”</p><p>Rose let out a chuckle, “No, but this isn’t psychology just yet. I still have to pass the lower exams before I can start on anything other than 101 classes.”</p><p>“Hmm.” Kanaya studied the papers covered in her wife’s handwriting for a moment more before straightening up and resting her hands on Rose’s shoulders. “I can’t say I fully understand humanity’s need to know so much about every single subject.”</p><p>“It makes societies like the one upstairs easier to keep running.”</p><p>“Undoubtedly. It is a better model than what Alternian education was, but it still seems to be a waste to teach your artists so much mathematics and your physicists so much about art.”</p><p>“Was Jade complaining about having to take an English class again.” Rose raised an eyebrow.</p><p>“You already know the answer to that, so I won’t bother with a response.”</p><p>At the thought of Jade a twinge of jealousy went through Rose. Kanaya sensed something was wrong immediately of course. “What is it?”</p><p>Rose sighed, “I’m afraid I’m a bit green with envy when it comes to Jade at this particular moment.”</p><p>“And why is that?” Kanaya asked while knowing full well the answer, but she could tell Rose would feel better after being able to vent her frustrations.</p><p>“She had even less of an education than I did, but still managed to sail through these tests in under two years. It’s taken me four just to get to the final one.”</p><p>Kanaya mulled over her response for a moment, “If I recall, Jade spent her youth surrounded by technology far superior then the rest that Earth possessed, and also had such an interest in the sciences that she managed to teach herself reasonably advanced physics before you all joined the game. After which, she was left alone, but still able to access some of the Earth databases. I suspect she filled quite a lot of that time with studying things that could take her mind off of her current situation. If I were to guess, she finds you in a far more enviable position than she is in.”</p><p>Now Rose felt bad. Of course Jade was further along than she was. She sighed, “Thank you, Kanaya.”</p><p>“Any time, dear.” Kanaya places another light kiss on her wife’s cheek. “Might I suggest you take a short break? You’ve been working on these papers since you woke up.” She paused, “Also, Aradia and Sollux will be here in a few minutes, so I doubt you’ll be able to make much headway until they leave.”</p><p>Rose smiled, “I’ll bet they’ll be happy to see this.” She gestured around at the brooding cavern.</p><p>“Aradia sounded overjoyed at the success of rearing the new mother grub on this planet. Sollux, I believe, is coming along more out of obligation.” Kanaya offered a hand and Rose took it, rising from her seat.</p><p>“I’m not surprised. Wasn’t Davepeta with them?”</p><p>“Yes, but I don’t believe they’re coming. From what I understand, they went to see Roxy.”</p><p>“That’s probably a fortuitous development. From our brief interaction, I got the impression that they were a little…”</p><p>“Destructive, hyperactive, generally of the wrong temperament to be let loose in the equivalent of a human nursery.”</p><p>“In a sense.”</p><p>Kanaya led Rose over to the back entrance, an elevator that had been installed so that supplies could be brought down quicker than if someone had to find their way through the labyrinth of tunnels. “They are of course, welcome to come visit. They are part Nepeta after all and have just as much a right as the rest of us too take an interest. However, the current batch is in a fragile stage at the present time, and two people who don’t know what they’re doing is quite enough for now.”</p><p>Kanaya had been very particular about who was allowed down to see the mother grub and when. They still only had one, and from what Rose understood, the mother grub’s personal reproductive process was so slow that, even after their six hundred years and change time jump, she still hadn’t laid an egg and wouldn’t for a few more decades at least. This had made Kanaya ever so slightly skittish at the thought of having anyone untrained be allowed down in the main cavern without close supervision. Rose had spent her first few months in a crash course until she knew enough that Kanaya trusted her to help. Her powers had made everything go far more smoothly than normal. A perk of being a fully realized goddess of light is that it’s difficult to fuck anything up too spectacularly.</p><p>Rose could hear the elevator slowly coming down. They still had a minute before their guests would arrive. Rose could see little worry lines on her wife’s beautiful face. Now that wouldn’t do at all.</p><p>“Hey Kanaya.”</p><p>Kanaya turned from studying the soon to be sliding open elevator doors, so Rose took the opportunity to lean up on her toes, take her wife’s face in her hands, and gently kiss her. Rose smiled as she saw a soft glow from behind her closed eyelids, and ever so slowly broke away.</p><p>“Everything will be just fine. But you may want to stop glowing before they get here.”</p><p>Kanaya scoffed, “You know you can be absolutely insufferable sometimes.” She looked exasperated as the glow quickly faded.</p><p>Rose smirked, she couldn’t help it, “I love you.”</p><p>“I love you too.”</p><p>They shared one more quick kiss before there was a soft ding and the doors slid open. Aradia jumped out in a red glittery blur and threw her arms around Kanaya before any of them even had a chance to say hello. She was still in her godhood, wings and all, and fluttered a few inches from the ground.</p><p>“Kanaya! Rose! It’s so nice to finally see you! Both of you! I’ve missed you all so much. I’m sorry Sollux and I didn’t meet up with you in dream bubbles more often during your trip.”</p><p>“That’s quite alright. We know you two were rather busy with your own mission. I’m just glad you’re here now.” Kanaya pulled away from Aradia who let go instantly.</p><p>“It’s good to hear your voice, Kan. I would say it’s good to see you, but I think I’ll be stealing a lot of Terezi’s jokes for the foreseeable future. Foresmellable? Never mind, her jokes are garbage.” Sollux hadn’t moved from his spot. He was leaning on what looked like Terezi’s borrowed sword cane. He was still wearing his old bi-color glasses, but Rose could see behind them that his eyes had gone dark.</p><p>“I’m very glad you’re here too, Sollux. It would have been a shame if the only ones to make it from our session were to be myself and Karkat.”</p><p>Sollux let out a chuckle and Rose watched as Kanaya blushed green. “That’s not what I meant, Sollux, and you know it.” She sounded fake exasperated but was clearly happy to see an old friend in good spirits.</p><p>She turned back to Aradia, who was still fluttering a few inches off the ground, “I believed I promised to show you our current batch of eggs.”</p><p>“Oh, yes! I can’t wait to see what you’ve been doing.”</p><p>With that, Kanaya led them back into the main cavern. Sollux volunteered to stay on the side of the cavern for now, claiming to want to get his bearings before walking along the uneven and pit filled floor. Rose stayed with him, allowing Kanaya to show Aradia around alone.</p><p>Rose waited in steady silence as she watched Kanaya gush over her work to Aradia, who seemed genuinely fascinated. She waited until she was sure her wife was out of earshot. There were things she needed to know, and the single most qualified person paradox space had made had just been dumped right before her.</p><p>Rose cleared her throat “Did you ever figure out how your class worked?”</p><p>Sollox looked at her, face set in a nearly unreadable emotion that she guessed was close to non-caring, “Sort of. Aa and I spent a lot of time in dream bubbles, and I met different versions of myself. Some of them had managed to godtier before doom caught up to them. Why?”</p><p>Rose pondered what the correct response would be, and settled on the truth, “Since Terezi left, I’ve been the only one who had a hope of knowing truly what was going on. The paths that branched all into darkness but one that had stretched before me during the game dwindled to just a few. Now they seem to have, not so much dwindled, as merged, like the path has opened into a wide field where we can go anywhere, do anything. Some spots are dimmer than others, but I don’t see a single spot ahead of us that light doesn’t shine on in some capacity. Seers are the learned class. We find information and put it to use. Mages on the other hand know through intuition.”</p><p>She turned to face Sollux, knowing that even though he couldn’t see her, he could tell. “So, you are the only Mage we have. Do you see any Doom left for us? Or, as I suspect, are we finally free?”</p><p>Sollux starred at her, or at least the equivalent. Rose saw his lips pinch into a line. “I never went godtier like the rest of you did.”</p><p>“Even so, I’ve heard you predicted many things that came to pass. Not educated guesses either, honest to god prophecies.”</p><p>“Hmm” He fidgeted with the handle of his borrowed cane. Rose waited… and waited.</p><p>She felt the slightest bit of impatience stir in her, a flaw that would still rear its head quite often. She thought ruefully that she was still reasonably young.</p><p>Finally, he answered, “There’s nothing. Nothing cosmic anyway. You idiots can still fuck up everyday shit, just like the rest of us, but I don’t think Skaia cares anymore.”</p><p>Rose felt a little knot in the back of her mind untie itself, and she smiled. “Thank you, Sollux. I was nearly certain, however I’ve learned the value of a second opinion.”</p><p>“Uh-hm, the second TZ’s feeling better you’re going to badger her about this too aren’t you.”</p><p>“Absolutely. I wouldn’t be much of a seer if I didn’t check every major event in triplicate.”</p><p>Rose caught movement out of the corner of her eye and saw Kanaya waving her and Sollux over.</p><p>“Kanaya seems to want our attention. Do you need any assistance navigating the terrain?” Rose raised an eyebrow as she glanced over.</p><p>“Nah, I’ll be fine. Thanks for asking, but I’ve gotten pretty used to not seeing shit.”</p><p>They made their way over to where Kanaya and Aradia waited. Kanaya looked regal and posed as ever as Rose tucked her arm around her wife. Aradia was literally bouncing in the air.</p><p>“I never would have gotten to see this back on the homeworld. This is so exciting.”</p><p>“Would someone explain what’s going on?”</p><p>Kanaya supplied the details, “This batch of eggs is supposed to start hatching soon, but it seems one of them is impatient to beat it’s peers.”</p><p>Rose looked down to see one of the eggs had a sharp crack clearly over the top. Looking closely, she could just make out a blueish color before the egg shook again. A soft clicking sound emanated from the egg as it shook, and the crack split further. A moment more and a shard fell inside, revealing a beautiful blue.</p><p>Aradia tilted her head in slight confusion, “I’ve never seen that color before. Are grubs different shades when they hatch?”</p><p>Kanaya was beaming, “Not at all. The Empress enforced rather strict standards to limit the hemospectrum to eleven distinct castes. I’ve found different shades are quite common. Seeing as there’s no more caste system and frankly because the idea was quite dumb to begin with, there’s no need to do anything to limit mutations.”</p><p>“Well that’s good. I bet Karkat’s happy about that.”</p><p>“I… don’t discuss things of this nature with him. Maybe in a few decades, when he stops panicking at every paper cut. But for now, he needs a few more years to relax.”</p><p>“Oh… That’s understandable. I’ll make sure to avoid bringing it up.”</p><p>“That would be advisable.”</p><p>Kanaya waved someone else over and Rose looked up to see Helaus, the olive blood walking briskly over. Kanaya shewed the rest of them away as he knelt down to tend to the newly hatched grub. “I’m afraid that grub hatching was a sign that Rose and I will be quite busy for the next two weeks. My, this is going to be a big batch. Each one seems to have another dozen eggs in it.”</p><p>Rose squeezed her wife’s hand, “I keep telling you that you’ll need to find another troll to start training soon.”</p><p>“Yes, but it’s so nice with just a few of us down hear most times.”</p><p>“You say that now, but in a weeks’ time when none of us has had so as a lunch break in days you’ll be eating your words instead of breakfast.”</p><p>Kanaya gave a tired sigh as she looked down with love etched into every angle and line of her face.</p><p>“I’d offer to help but I’d probably step on one of them.”</p><p>Aradia mock gasped, “Sollux!” He was smirking.</p><p>“Anyway, we should probably leave you too it. Thanks for letting us come in here.”</p><p>“You’re welcome Aradia. Feel free to stop by later if you’d like.”</p><p>“Maybe when I know you aren’t too busy. Sollux, is there anything else you want to check out before we leave?”</p><p>“No. No offense, Kan, but I hate being underground.”</p><p>“None taken.”</p><p>Aradia’s wings fluttered a bit. She touched down to give Kanaya and Rose a parting hug, and then she and Sollux left back the way they had come.</p><p>Rose let out a breath and leaned into Kanaya, who put her arm around her. They held each other like that for a minute, before Rose pulled away enough to face her wife.</p><p>“We should probably get back to the main cavern. I doubt the other eggs are far behind.”</p><p>“I guess your break from your studies will be longer than anticipated.”</p><p>Rose laughed, “A lot longer. I don’t mind. There’s no real deadline.”</p><p>Kanaya smiled, “That’s the spirit.”</p><p>The two walked back into the main cavern so they could get to work.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thank you all for the kudos. It makes me so happy to see people enjoying my self-indulgent garbage.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Meanwhile, Upstairs</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Dave and Karkat talk to Terezi and (get annoyed by) Vriska.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Dave POV<br/>First part happens at the same time as Chapter 2.<br/>A little bit of fluffy davekat at the end cause I wanted to write it.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Dave left a little bad for leaving John, but Jane was with him, and she’d send him up before she left. It was fine, anyway. John was doing way better than he had been a few months ago. Dave cut that thought off before reassurance could turn to guilt. He squeezed Karkat’s hand to ground himself.</p><p>They reached the doorway to the spare bedroom and Karkat let Dave’s hand go to knock. There was a bit of shuffling and murmuring from beyond the door before it was thrown open. Vriska stood in the doorway, looking almost identical as to when Dave saw her jump through a fenestrated plain to not be seen again for five years. She was looking up between him and Karkat. Up. Dave found it more than a little unsettling that the girl who had once had about half an inch on him he now towered over. Even Karkat was taller than she was now. Dave saw an emotion flash across her face, like she was just as unsettled, more so even. Then it was gone. Replaced by that same mask she had always worn, and he had only recently learned to take off.</p><p>“Well don’t just stand there like two light-shocked antlerbeasts! It’s your hive after all.” Exactly the way Dave remembered her.</p><p>“Nice to see you too, Vriska.”</p><p>“Vantas! Can’t say I wasn’t a little surprised when it turned out you were here. I figured you’d end up doing something dumb and get skewered by one of the Jacks.” Maybe too much like the way Dave remembered her.</p><p>“Hey, Terezi!” Dave shouted over Vriska’s head, which was no longer in the slightest bit difficult.</p><p>“Hey, Coolkid!” Terezi was still in the bed under the covers, but at least she was sitting up now. Even with the troll’s naturally thicker skin, Dave could see the outline of bones under her skin. “How have things been going in paradise?”</p><p>Vriska stepped out of the way to let the two enter the room, which was slightly cramped for four people, but no one cared at the moment.</p><p>Dave leaned down and hugged Terezi, “Better now that you’re back.”</p><p>“Don’t go soft on me now, it ruins your image.”</p><p>“What about me, Strider?”</p><p>“I don’t know, Serket. If you want one of my patented coolguy hugs, you’ll have to promise not to stick a knife in my back while my guards down.”</p><p>“I can’t make any promises.”</p><p>“Then no hugs for you.”</p><p>It felt so much like old times that Dave thought Karkat looked like he wanted to die. He had one arm crossed and his other hand was rubbing his temple. Dave thought he better change the subject before things got to nostalgic and he has to step between the two.</p><p>“So… what happened from your perspectives? Last time I saw Serket here she was jumping though a window screaming about a dead version of herself.” Dave sat down in the chair between the window, which had heavy curtains over it, and the bed, waiting for Vriska to answer.</p><p>“Right, that. Well, I had some personal business to take care of with her. But after that, everything went according to plan.”</p><p>Terezi snickered, then started coughing a bit, “No it didn’t. Your plan went to shit thirty seconds in.”</p><p>“That’s only the part you saw. And hey, we beat English didn’t we.”</p><p>“That was luck.”</p><p>“Exactly, and you know what I have all of?” She didn’t wait for anyone else to respond, “The luck!”</p><p>“So that’s all that’s happened for you? You beat up an alternate self, almost got killed by English, and then got here. Weren’t you the one always ragging on me for getting into fights with my alternate selves?”</p><p>“Vantas, there is a difference between having a disagreement with another self from a different timeline, and threatening to murder yourself from twenty minutes ago.”</p><p>Karkat looked at Dave for help, “Sorry, bro. All my alt selves were the shit and I never had a single problem.”</p><p>“That’s a loud of hoofbeast shit! I was there whe…”</p><p>“Let’s not talk about <em>that</em>.” Dave felt his face going a little red. He turned to Terezi a little too quickly, “So what happened with you?”</p><p>Terezi let out a little sigh, “Not much. Jade sent me back near the green sun, and then I flew around like an idiot for who knows how long.” She paused, “I sent a few pictures back at some point. Who did I send those too?” She thought, “John! I sent John pictures of stuff out there.”</p><p>“Oh yeah, I remember that. That was 3 years, 4 months, 21 days…”</p><p>“Dave.”</p><p>“Oops, sorry.”</p><p>“Anyway…” Terezi made a motion as if looking between them before she went on, “I kind of… fell into the battle.”</p><p>“Like a stone.”</p><p>“Shoosh! It’s my turn. Anyway, I landed in the battlefield. English was a little way off fighting Vriska and Aradia. And you know who found me? Feferi! The one from our timeline. She got me over to the others, and someone who could see where the minds of everyone else were was exactly what Aradia and Davepeta needed to open the rift. I was about to about to go through when something hit me, and the next thing I know, I’m laying in cold, wet grass and can hear Karkat’s delightful shouting, as well as someone who sounded like Jade but it was mostly Karkat.” One of her evil grins spread over her face, somehow even more disturbing now. “It was not a pleasant sound to wake up to.”</p><p>“Fuck you! I was showing concern for your well being and also Vriska wouldn’t put her sword away and Dirk had to stop her from taking a swing at Jane.”</p><p>Terezi made her question mark face, “I don’t remember that part.”</p><p>“Well, yeah, you were still pretty dead.”</p><p>“Oooohhhh, that makes sense.”</p><p>They all drifted off into a silence that was just a little awkward. Dave wondered how the four biggest loud mouths in the galaxy somehow didn’t have anything to say. Of course, Vriska broke the silence and somehow managed to make it worse.</p><p>“Why do you and Strider have matching rings? You’re not the type for jewelry.” Vriska pointed at Dave’s left hand, which had a plain gold band around one finger. He was so used to wearing it at this point that running a finger over it had become a nervous tick.</p><p>“What? Oh. They’re our wedding bands.” It suddenly occurred to Dave that Vriska had never stepped foot on any Earth, and that she had come to movie night on the meteor maybe twice.</p><p>Her look of confusion was enough to confirm that she had no idea what a ‘wedding band’ was. “Look, Dave. I know I spent three years cooped up with you and Rose, but I had more important things to do than memorize your cultures jewelry. What’s a ‘wedding band’?”</p><p>Karkat had the look of someone who wasn’t sure if they were about to kick a hornet’s nest or not. “It means Dave and I are matesprites.”</p><p>Vriska looked back and forth with an expression that said Christmas had come early. Dave knew at that moment that they were never going to hear the end of this.</p><p>“So, what you’re telling me is that Dave ‘not a homosexual’ Strider and Karkat ‘out of all the humans why’d I have to get stuck with this one’ Vantas were actually lying to everyone the entire time?” She had the biggest shit eating ‘I told you so grin’ Dave had ever seen. “Well I’m shocked, shocked I tell you. Why, I figured it would take at least ten years for you two to get the sticks out of your asses and finally date, but you somehow managed to do it in less than five. I’d say it’s a miracle, but that guy is still somewhere in paradox space.”</p><p>“You know Vriska? Maybe it’s because you weren’t around to walk in on every single private conversation your aural canals could find and make it awkward.”</p><p>“Or try and start a fight.”</p><p>“That too.”</p><p>Vriska huffed, “Well at least I don’t make my moirail wear something saying she’s taken. I though human culture was about ‘independence’?”</p><p>Dave finally said something he’d been scared to say when he was younger, “Vriska, stop being such a little shit. For once in your life, just chill the fuck out.” Dave realized he sounded like a tired parent telling a teenager to clean her room. He filed that away in ‘things to think about later’.</p><p>Before she could open her mouth to retaliate, Terezi cut her off, “You are being a bit of a little shit right now. Also, someone’s coming up the stairs.”</p><p>At that moment there was a knock at the door that had somehow gotten shut in the last few minutes. Karkat, being the one standing right next to it, opened the door to reveal John. John’s face lit up in a way that Dave hadn’t seen in years and was also relieved he could still make, or maybe make again.</p><p>“Vriska!” Dave felt the impact of John’s hug from across the room. She seemed a little stunned before he let her go, but regained composer fast.</p><p>“Great to finally see you Egbert. Our twenty minutes before I left to fight English don’t really count as catching up time.”</p><p>Dave could tell Terezi was getting tired, and now the room was really cramped, so he said goodbye to Terezi, told the other two to come get them if they needed anything, and pulled Karkat out of the room, partially shutting the door behind them so the three inside could have some privacy.</p><p>They both walked downstairs silently, far enough away that even Terezi couldn’t hear them. Dave flopped down on the couch in the living room, and Karkat curled into his side. He pulled his shades up so they set on top of his head.</p><p>Dave looked down at Karkat, absently running his fingers though his hair. “I’m glad that they’re both alright. But I think I forgot just how… much Vriska was.”</p><p>Karkat snorted, “Yeah.”</p><p>“How long do you think she can stay here before one of us goes insane?”</p><p>“Two weeks, one if she’s trying.” They both laughed a little.</p><p>“Hmm… I doubt they want to be separated again, not after what Terezi went though to get her back. But they can’t stay here. Why’d we agree to let them stay here?”</p><p>Karkat looked up, “Because it was 3am and no one’s think pan was running on all cylinders.”</p><p>“You’re not wrong.”</p><p>The two sat in silence for a few moments, enjoying each other’s company.</p><p>“Do you think ‘s a good idea to let them just live on their own?”</p><p>Karkat took a moment to answer, “Terezi could, but Vriska doesn’t know what’s going on yet. They’ll need to stay with someone at least until Vriska gets it into her thinkpan that she can’t try Flarping anymore.”</p><p>Dave almost laughs at that, but the thought that she may actually try it stops him.</p><p>Karkat goes on, “Where else would they even go?”</p><p>“We could see if they want to hang out with Jake and Dirk for a few months?” Dave could feel the shit eating grin on his face.</p><p>Karkat dissolved into laughter in his lap. He gasped out, “Could you image, Vriska, having to live with those two, on monster hell island?”</p><p>Dave started laughing too, he couldn’t help it.</p><p>Karkat finally calmed down enough to string a sentence together again. “As insane as those two weirdos are, a friend wouldn’t do that to them. Also, how would sending those girls to an island full of monsters transition them into society? That sounds more like a shitty reality TV show.”</p><p>“Don’know, just thought it would be funny.” Karkat grabbed a pillow and whacked Dave in the face.</p><p>“What about Kanaya? They shouldn’t need any actual supervision, just a place to stay and people to shoot down any ideas involving the maiming, murder, or emotional scaring of other parties for entertainment.”</p><p>Dave shook his head, “They’re both too busy. Rose is working on getting her Earth C GED so she can finally start her degree. That’s on top of them working with the mother grub, plus they’re thinking of having a kid soon and I should shut the fuck up cause Rose told me not to tell and I just said that out loud didn’t I well shit I’m gonna stop talking now.” Dave shut his mouth, but it was too late, Karkat sat bolt upright and stared at him.</p><p>“What do you mean they’re having a kid?”</p><p>“Well shit, this is Rose’s fault honestly she knows I can’t keep my mouth shut. If she wanted this kept as a surprise, she shouldn’t ‘ave told me.”</p><p>“Well obviously, idiot. At this point I assume when she tells you a secret it’s her way of slowly telling everyone what’s going on. Now spill, human or troll.”</p><p>“Troll, I think. Having a human kid would kind of suck seeing as we’re all immortal and shit and humans live to like a hundred max.”</p><p>“How did your race ever get anything done when you all have the lifespan of rustbloods?”</p><p>“Rose is the one getting a GED, not me.”</p><p>Karkat narrowed his eyes, “Wait, why didn’t Kanaya tell me?”</p><p>“I don’t think they were planning on telling anyone, but Rose rambles as much as me if you know where to push.”</p><p>“Fair enough.”</p><p>Karkat curled back into your lap and you went back to absently playing with his hair. It was calming.</p><p>“Those two are the only ones of us who have any business around kids.”</p><p>“Seconded.”</p><p>“I don’t even know how to start raising a kid. All my Bro every stocked in the house was aj and cereal. I mean what do you even do? Get up at the crack of dawn to make them a pack lunch and put them on the school bus? Bye little Timmy, try not to get mercilessly bullied while I ignore it.”</p><p>“Dave.”</p><p>“I never, ever want to be in a car with a learner driver. That sounds more terrifying than Rose when she’s pissed. Please don’t tell her or Kan I told you about them having a kid.”</p><p>“Dave.”</p><p>“Hmm, what?”</p><p>“What are you working through?”</p><p>“What do you mean?”</p><p>“I can tell when your rambles are just rambles, and when they’re you working through something. Do you want to talk about it?”</p><p>Dave paused, “Not right now.”</p><p>Karkat sat up and leaned into him, giving him a short kiss before pulling away. “Alright, you can talk about it whenever. How about I put on a movie?”</p><p>“Yeah, that sounds great.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I somehow managed to write all this in one sitting. I kept realizing I was in second POV instead of third and having to go back and change it.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Lab Time</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Jade gets to chat with two of her favorite people before she barely has a moment to think for the next two weeks.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I will fit every single trope into this fic if it kills me, lol. Here's some college au. Jade POV</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jade had a toothbrush in her mouth, a hair pik in her hand, and only one sock on when her phone lit up with a notification. She ignored it for a moment, whatever it was could wait until she wasn’t a mess. It was a Saturday, which meant it was her one day of the week where she had to take her sweet time. The colorful strings around her fingers had returned, but in fewer numbers as when she was a child, and a much better color-coding system. Blue for calculus, purple for stellar astronomy II, green for physics, and pink for bio chemistry. Also, white for everything else. She winced a little when she caught a glimpse of her hands in the bathroom mirror. There were just so many reminders this time of year. All her projects and finals were fun, but there were just so goddamn many of them.</p><p>She was halfway through getting her mess of curls into something resembling a kempt state when she remembered her phone. Just because the world wasn’t going to end didn’t mean she still shouldn’t be politely prompt in answering one of her friend’s messages. She ducked out of the bathroom to grab her phone off her desk and then went back to staring at the mirror and working on her hair. She opened her chat client to see a familiar purple.</p><p>
  <span class="pesterlog">-- tentacleTherapist [TT] began pestering gardenGnostic [GG] --</span>
</p><p><span class="rose">TT: Hello Jade. I was wondering if you would offer me your assistance in something. I’m afraid I’ve become slightly preoccupied at the moment; however, I’d like to get some groundwork done.<br/></span> <span class="jade">GG: of course rose! what do you need help with?<br/></span> <span class="rose">TT: I was hoping you would know the some of the locations of the few SBURB artifacts that fell here during the final reckoning.<br/></span> <span class="jade">GG hmm… well theres the stuff on the island, and where your meteor landed, and some other scattered around all over the place!! not that many made it to earth c. in fact i think only the bare minimum for the game to work fell! what do you want to do with them? i thought you really wanted to be done with the game for good? :?<br/></span> <span class="rose">TT: I do. That’s the reason I’m looking for every single rock the Game dropped on this planet. I had my suspicions, and Sollux was able to confirm, that we are outside of Skaia’s reach. Which, after several days of careful consideration, means we are no longer the timeline that will spawn Lord English.<br/></span> <span class="jade">GG: but, that’s bad isnt it? doesnt that mean were in a doomed timeline?<br/></span> <span class="rose">TT: Not anymore. I’d be able to tell if we’d fallen off the Skaia sanctioned path and were now falling irreparably toward oblivion. Even so, some carefully placed questions directed toward our resident Heroes of Time assuaged any remaining doubts. So, unless us Gods have been stripped of our abilities, we’re home free.<br/></span> <span class="jade">GG: well that sounds good, but i still dont understand why you want to find all the meteors.<br/></span> <span class="rose">TT: We only left them there so that we wouldn’t doom ourselves. Some helpful spoilers from Calliope mixed with Dave and my shared foreboding feelings surrounding the act of removing the Game objects stopped any further thought of it. But now, now that we don’t have to abide by the time loop we were stuck in, I would sleep better at night knowing that it’s impossible for anyone on this planet to do what the trolls did. They managed to compile the source code from two sets of ruins on Alternia, and with just that started their session.<br/></span> <span class="jade">GG: okay, but aren’t sessions predestined? if sburb really wants to be played here what can we do to stop it?<br/></span> <span class="rose">TT: Predestiny can only work within the defined system. We are now in a plain vanilla universe with plain vanilla physics. The only SBURB hijinks that can occur are from objects from inside the Game. If we blow up every last meteor, then the only foothold the game has on this planet is ourselves.<br/></span> <span class="jade">GG: but wouldnt sburb just send more meteors?<br/></span> <span class="rose">TT: That would only be a problem if Skaia could still see us, but it can’t. We are no longer one of the timelines it cares about, or at least this planet doesn’t matter within the timeline of our universe anymore in relation to Skaia.<br/></span> <span class="jade">GG: alright, what about grist and alchemizers? we cant get rid of them too, that would cause so much chaos.<br/></span> <span class="rose">TT: The grist is linked to us, not any specific object that the Game sent. There’s no need to get rid of it. Also, the code Dave used to create the disks at the start of our game was destroyed.<br/></span> <span class="jade">GG: what about the ectobiology lab?<br/></span> <span class="rose">TT: I plan on asking Kanaya if she wishes to create an ecto-clone of the mother grub, just so the trolls aren’t relying on a single mortal lifeform to keep them going. Otherwise, there’s no more need for the equipment.<br/></span> <span class="jade">GG: hmm…<br/></span> <span class="rose">TT: Hmm…?<br/></span> <span class="jade">GG: yes, hmm…<br/></span> <span class="rose">TT: …<br/></span> <span class="rose">TT: …<br/></span> <span class="rose">TT: I understand if you’re feeling hesitant about my plan. I admit it sounds slightly more drastic than intended after I’ve typed it out. But, if things do end up going horribly wrong, we have three Gods of Time around to fix all but my most egregious hubris fueled screw ups.<br/></span> <span class="rose">TT: Don’t tell Dave I said he’s the backup plan. I don’t believe he’d take kindly to even the notion he may have to time travel again.<br/></span> <span class="jade">GG: alright!!! (:<br/></span> <span class="rose">TT: Alright to my plan, or my request to not reveal the contingencies of said plan to the concerned party?<br/></span> <span class="jade">GG: both!!! (:<br/></span> <span class="rose">TT: That’s a relief. You had me worried there for a moment.<br/></span> <span class="jade">GG: (:<br/></span> <span class="rose">TT: Anyway, could you possibly check your university database for locations when you get the chance? I know all the major ones, but I’m sure plenty slipped through our radar.<br/></span> <span class="jade">GG: will do! when are you planning on carrying out this final dangerous mission?<br/></span> <span class="rose">TT: Relatively soon, but by no means immediately. The current brood started hatching in full swing a few days ago, so Kanaya and I are too busy to get up to any trouble at the moment.<br/></span> <span class="jade">GG: :O you didnt tell me theyd started hatching yet! thats great!<br/></span> <span class="rose">TT: Yes, Kanaya is thrilled right now. She mentioned that this is the first brood with more than one or two sea-dwellers in it. From what I understand, the mother grub can only produce trolls higher on the spectrum when she’s close to laying a matriorb.<br/></span> <span class="jade">GG: thats great! xD<br/></span> <span class="rose">TT: It is indeed.<br/></span> <span class="jade">GG: im sorry rose, but i have to go now. i have a lab project i promised my groupmates id check on this morning.<br/></span> <span class="rose">TT: By all means. If you don’t have time again to talk before your finals, I hope they go well.<br/></span> <span class="rose">GG: thank you rose!!! ill say hi to kanaya for me!<br/></span> <span class="rose">TT: I will.</span></p><p>
  <span class="pesterlog">-- tentacleTherapist [TT] ceased pestering gardenGnostic [GG] --</span>
</p><p>Jade tapped the side of her phone case idly. She’d finished with her hair halfway through the conversation with Rose, and now leaned against the wall in her bathroom. She looked at her chatlog, now finished. Hopefully Rose was on the right track and hadn’t slipped into her old habits of blowing stuff up when she got frustrated. But she hadn’t done that in years at this point, they’d all calmed down a great deal since finally escaping the Game.</p><p>Jade slipped her phone into a pocket in the skirt she was wearing and noticed in the back of her mind it was one of the ones Kanaya had made for her on her last birthday. She smiled, then walked back out into her studio apartment to pack up her things and walk over to the building that housed all the chemistry labs. She slipped her laptop and charging cable into the bag, zipped it up, and took the stairs down to the ground floor two at a time.</p><p>The walk was uneventful. Jade had long ago figured out that if she styled her hair to be as poofy as possible, it covered the dog ears nearly perfectly, the skirt took care of hiding the tail. It didn’t really matter, everyone on campus knew that an honest to god Goddess shared lecture halls with them, and the novelty had worn thin quickly. Even so, it sewed a bit of doubt in the minds of freshmen, about whether it was really her, who might otherwise ask for an autograph and make her late for class.</p><p>The chemistry lab where her group project was stewing was on the ground floor. She walked in, the door opening with her keycard, and set her bag down next to her usual worktable. Jade retrieved her goggles from one of the cabinets, and then pulled a few testing strips from the kit the professor had left open on her desk.</p><p>Half an hour later, she was sitting at her worktable, staring at the wall absently as she waited for results. It would take at least twenty more minutes for the results to show, and only then could she take the next step. While she waited, she pulled her phone out and opened it. Scrolling through messages to see who was on, she noticed yet again how weird it felt for her contact list to have gotten longer. It hadn’t changed once in years, then all at once five new names had been added. None of them were on of course, probably too busy checking out the whole new world they had fallen into.</p><p>At this point, Jade noticed a pink text she hadn’t seen last time she checked.</p><p>
  <span class="pesterlog">-- tipsyGnostalgic [TG] began pestering gardenGnostic [GG] --</span>
</p><p>
  <span class="roxy">TG: jade<br/>TG: JADE<br/>TG: JADEY<br/>TG: oops your probs busy with school<br/>TG: i wanted to ask you<br/>TG: have you met davepeta yet<br/>TG: cause i seem to member you bein asleep for the short time they were in the game with us<br/>TG: so i dont think youve met em yet<br/>TG: jade. they. are. a. BLAST!<br/>TG: totes adorbs<br/>TG: funny as shit<br/>TG: they wanted to go fly over and see you but i told them that you were real busy with learning and shit<br/>TG: but once youre done you HAVE to come over<br/>TG: i prob cant pull rose or kan away but i can make jane come over and we could have a girls plus nb sleep over<br/>TG: well human girls<br/>TG: should i invite the new ones too<br/>TG: i dont know them too well yet but that sounds dope<br/>TG: anyway<br/>TG: you seem busy<br/>TG: i love science too but i think ill take my time learnin all the complicated shits<br/>TG: i wont make you explain what you learned in your classes when i next see you<br/>TG: cause i know youll be burnt out and shit<br/>TG: callie and davepeta says hi</span>
</p><p>
  <span class="pesterlog">-- tipsyGnostalgic [TG] ceased pestering gardenGnostic [GG] --</span>
</p><p>
  <span class="pesterlog">-- gardenGnostic [GG] began pestering tipsyGnostalgic [TG] --</span>
</p><p>
  <span class="jade">GG: that sounds great!!!! xD<br/>GG: ill come over as soon as i can after finals! then we can have the best most fun sleepover ever! :D</span>
</p><p>
  <span class="pesterlog">-- gardenGnostic [GG] ceased pestering tipsyGnostalgic [TG] --</span>
</p><p>Roxy wasn’t on anymore, so Jade figured there was no point waiting for a response. It could take Roxy anywhere between thirty seconds and two days to respond to even the most urgent of messages if they were distracted.</p><p>Jade laid her phone down on the workbench, and contented herself with studying one of the many many diagrams the covered the walls of the lab to pass the time.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Updates two days in a row, both written when I should have been sleeping. Thank you all so much for the kudos, seeing those tick up makes me want to write more.<br/>I should really be asleep right now. I swear I started this chapter at a normal time but now it's almost midnight.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. The Beginning of an End</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>John tries to put words to his feelings.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>self projection is not what's happening here, no siry!<br/>Joking aside, this chapter is a little heavy. tw for dysphoria, depression.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span class="pesterlog">-- ectoBiologist [EB] began pestering gutsyGumshoe [GG] –</span>
</p><p>
  <span class="john">EB: hey, i know you’re not on right now, and that’s okay, i just need to, i don’t know… order my thoughts a little.<br/>
EB: i could write this down in a journal or something, but then it’s still in my head.<br/>
EB: i need someone else to hear it… maybe?<br/>
EB: i don’t know, this is making my head hurt.<br/>
EB: i don’t know why i can’t talk to dave or karkat about it…<br/>
EB: maybe because i feel kind of bad.<br/>
EB: they’ve both already done so much for me.<br/>
EB: i feel…<br/>
EB: well…<br/>
EB: like i don’t deserve everyone being so nice these last few months.<br/>
EB: and i know that’s what friends and family are supposed to do.<br/>
EB: but i wasn’t about to win an ocsar in either of those categories with how i was acting before… that.<br/>
EB: and you know what? i’m getting better. i feel 1000% better than i did…<br/>
EB: but there’s this one thing…<br/>
EB: and i can’t figure out what it is.s<br/>
EB: it feels like i’m in a borrowed body.<br/>
EB: like this one isn’t mine and i’m only using it because it’s what i have to work with.<br/>
EB: but it’s all wrong<br/>
EB: you know that feeling when you go to see a movie, and all the trailers look really cool and it’s exactly what you want to watch. but then when you watch the movie you realize it’s the wrong genre.<br/>
EB: or when you’re watching a movie with a great main plot, but then the side plot just comes hurling out of nowhere and now you have to watch these two people you don’t care about try and fix their marriage, and it ruins the entire movie.<br/>
EB: some days it’s fine though!!!! that makes it worse! one day i can’t look in the mirror and then the next i’m fine.<br/>
EB: or at least fine-ish.<br/>
EB: and sometimes the fine-ish days last for a while, and i almost forget about it.<br/>
EB: but then i wake up the next morning and can’t look in the mirror while i brush my teeth!<br/>
EB: Ahhhh!!!! it’s so stupid!!!!<br/>
EB: it just feels like the dumbest thing to be upset about!!!!<br/>
EB: but i can’t help it!!!!<br/>
EB: i can’t stop thinking about it today.<br/>
EB: and i don’t know what’s causing it.<br/>
EB: i just want to feel better but i can’t with this stupid thing!!!!</span>
</p><p>
  <span class="pesterlog">-- gutsyGumshoe [GG] is no longer an idle chum –</span>
</p><p><span class="john">EB: oh… hi.</span><br/>
<span class="jane">GG: I’d ask if you’re alright, but I think the wall of text is a good answer.</span><br/>
<span class="john">EB: yeah.</span><br/>
<span class="jane">GG: Give me just a moment to read it. Back in a jiff!<br/>
GG: No one thinks you’re a burden, John. We’re your family and we love you.</span><br/>
<span class="john">EB: part of me knows that, but another part doesn’t understand why.</span><br/>
<span class="jane">GG: Is that the same part that’s always making you feel down on yourself? Because if it is, I’d like to give it a piece of my mind.</span><br/>
<span class="john">EB: lol</span><br/>
<span class="jane">GG: In all seriousness, I may know who can help you with one of those feelings.</span><br/>
<span class="john">EB: ????</span><br/>
<span class="jane">GG: Roxy!<br/>
GG: They told me of something they went though that sounds similar to what you just described. </span><br/>
<span class="john">EB: …okay.<br/>
EB: does that have anything to do with their old drinking problem?</span><br/>
<span class="jane">GG: Well, that’s certainly how they coped with those feelings.<br/>
GG: I’m afraid at the time, none of us were much help to them. Quite frankly, we couldn’t understand what was wrong.<br/>
GG: It was far from the only reason they drank, but it was one of the bigger reasons.<br/>
GG: Luckily, the most fixable after they realized what was wrong.<br/>
GG: I mean, once they figured out that problem most of the others had been solved via SBURB shenanigans.</span><br/>
<span class="john">EB: er…</span><br/>
<span class="jane">GG: So maybe not the most fixable one…<br/>
GG: You should talk to Roxy.</span><br/>
<span class="john">EB: i will…<br/>
EB: thanks for listening to me.</span><br/>
<span class="jane">GG: Of course, John. I’ll always listen to whatever you have to say.</span></p><p>
  <span class="pesterlog">-- ectoBiologist [EB] ceased pestering gutsyGumshoe [GG] –</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span class="pesterlog">-- ectoBiologist [EB] began pestering tipsyGnostalgic [TG] –</span>
</p><p>
  <span class="john">EB: hey…<br/>
EB: jane said i should talk to you about this.<br/>
EB: i guess it’s easier to just show you the conversation.</span>
</p><p>
  <span class="pesterlog">-- ectoBiologist [EB] sent file ggchatlog413.txt –</span>
</p><p>
  <span class="roxy">TG: thats some heavy shit<br/>
TG: janey always knows what to do<br/>
TG: you wanna come over?</span><br/>
<span class="john">EB: i dont want to be a pest</span><br/>
<span class="roxy">TG: john. get your butt over to a transportilizer<br/>
TG: set the destination to my place<br/>
TG: i expect your arrival in no longer than ten minutes<br/>
TG: there will be hot chocolate </span><br/>
<span class="john">EB: bossy :p</span><br/>
<span class="roxy">TG: you know it! now get your ass over here egbert</span>
</p><p>
  <span class="pesterlog">-- tipsyGnostalgic [TG] ceased pestering ectoBiologist [EB] --</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Only 800 words but yknow it gets the point across.<br/>I will fix every single issue this entire cast has. They'll be happy god damn it.<br/>Also fuck evil Jane!<br/>I'm getting better at formatting pesterlogs.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Many Problems Solved</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Rose POV</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Rose wiped her brow on her sleeve. She always wore warm clothes in the caverns. It was cold down there, and the majority of her time was spent either studying or helping Kanaya with some administration details. She didn’t have nearly the training to do much more than record keeping. What she was currently doing was almost the only exception, and it was more that Kanaya needed manpower than anything else.</p><p>And so, Rose stood, covered in slime she didn’t want to think about, surrounded by grubs, with the task of keeping them from killing each other.</p><p>The first few hatches she’d helped with she’d been nervous, treating the grubs like human infants, instinctually convinced despite her powers that one wrong twitch would harm every grub in a two-foot radius.</p><p>She now understood that they were devious little fuckers who wouldn’t be hurt unless one punted them like a football.</p><p>“How is everything on your side, love?” Rose looked up to see Kanaya peering over into the pit. It was the deepest one they had dug, mostly so whoever was watching the grubs would notice when one tried to climb out.</p><p>“If I may dare to speak too soon, everyone’s behaving for now.”</p><p>“Hmm…”</p><p>“Hmm…?”</p><p>Kanaya was sweeping her gaze over the assorted grubs, “I was worried with the greater amount of high bloods. Sadly, I don’t know how much of their supposed innate violence is actually innate, and how much was simply conditioning from the empire.”</p><p>Rose leaned down to pick up an oliveblood who was trying it’s hardest to sink its teeth into a tealblood. “You would think it would be pragmatic to dispense with most of the propaganda when it came to castes such as yours.” She took some grub food out of a basket that hung from the wall, giving it to the oliveblood to distract it as she set it back down.</p><p>Kanaya sighed, “That would have been pragmatic, however the infrastructure for breeding grubs was so vast that economical use of resources wasn’t of concern. Unlike here.” Rose saw creases of worry line Kanaya’s face. They were the same lines that always made an appearance during hatchings.</p><p>“How are things going on your side?” Rose reached up to hold her wife’s hand, which was somehow covered in more rainbow slime than hers.</p><p>“A dozen more have cracked. I don’t know how we kept up with the last batch, much less this one.”</p><p>“Kanaya, darling.”</p><p>“Yes?”</p><p>“There are currently five different applications sitting on your desk.”</p><p>Kanaya made a bit of a face in response.</p><p>“I’m aware you’re very selective, however, we’re going to need another set of hands soon.”</p><p>“I know, but it’s so hard to find anyone with proper knowledge. There’s just so much, and it may be too much to learn from books.”</p><p>Alternia had had schoolfeeding technology which could beam decades worth of study into a mind in a matter of years. The first time Kanaya had explained how much each jadeblood knew about the caverns and caring for grubs, it had dawned on Rose that her wife had the equivalent of a PhD transmitted into her head by the age of twelve. But the tech had been lost to the Troll’s abandoned session. Rose, Roxy, Arquiusprite, and Kanaya had tried for months to recover it, but they never got anywhere. This left trolls in the same boat as humans when it came to education. It had been good at first, evening the playing field between two different species which needed to live together. The only problem was this. Even though Kanaya was just eleven sweeps old, and would only now be starting her life’s work in the caverns back on Alternia, she was the most qualified person on Earth C.</p><p>Rose knew how nervous she was about that.</p><p>“They’ll learn fast enough with your guidance.”</p><p>“I suppose…” Kanaya still had worry lines on her face, “Rustblood to your left.”</p><p>Rose sighed, letting go of her wife’s hand to pick up the offending grub. A small light flared in the back of her mind. Was it the grub? No, not this one at least. Where was that coming from…?</p><p>“Kanaya, you said several more eggs had cracked, correct?”</p><p>“Yes, but only just.” One of her eyebrows had went up in a silent question.</p><p>“Could Lifela take my place for a moment? I’d like to check something.”</p><p>“What is it?” Kanaya waved over the jadeblood, Lifela. She had been taking a break from the dirtier work, instead updating logs with the details of the grubs that hatched a few minutes ago.</p><p>“I’m not sure.”</p><p>Lifela climbed down to take her place in the pit, and Rose flew out to set down next to her wife. The two covered the distance between pits in a few strides.</p><p>Rose scanned over the remaining eggs, about half the batch had yet to hatch. A shudder ran through one in the corner of her vision and she instantly focused on it, walking around the outside of the pit until she was as close as she could get, which turned out to be within arm’s reach.</p><p>“That one.” Rose pointed.</p><p>Kanaya still had a confused, or bemused, look on her face, but she knew better than to doubt Rose’s instincts. She leaned in to examine the offending egg.</p><p>“I see nothing out of the ordinary, dear.”</p><p>“How long until it hatches?”</p><p>Rose’s question was answered by the grub, not Kanaya. A muffled squeak, and then the small crack widened as the grub tried to escape its confines. The two women froze in shock. Rose could have made several guesses as to what her powers had been referring to, but this would not have been it. Was she getting rusty? Could gods get rusty?</p><p>The fluid that leaked out through the crack was a bright fuchsia.</p><p>“Oh my…”</p><p>The grub broke out of its shell quickly, revealing that it was indeed a fuchsiablood.</p><p>Kanaya placed a hand on her wife’s shoulder, not taking her eyes off the newly hatched grub. “Rose, is… In what way did you see this.”</p><p>“Important.”</p><p>“Yes, but… What kind of important?”</p><p>Rose dug through her mind, the answer came easily enough, “Nothing bad is going to happen. Just… Important.”</p><p>Kanaya relaxed a little, but still wouldn’t take her eyes away. She was clearly bothered, but Rose knew she’d say something if she needed to. A moment later she did.</p><p>“When we set up the ectobiology program, Terezi, Karkat, Tavrosprite, and I talked it over for days… We were unsure as to how to proceed. Humanity could go on much as it did, as could the carapacians and the consorts. But trolls… We’d been engineered with psionics, mind control, telekinesis…” She paused, looking for the words, “Terezi brought up that with no one around to hold them back, a poorly intentioned goldblood or ceruleanblood could wipe out hundreds of lives on their own. The three of us had to come up with guidelines to give the carapacians, guidelines that would keep the more dangerous castes in small numbers. It would only be for a short time, not even a generation for the midbloods, just until we came back, until the mothergrub could start naturally producing trolls…” She took a breath, “…until we were around. But there was one caste we agreed we couldn’t clone.”</p><p>Rose looked back at the grub, now contentedly chewing on the last of its shell. “I thought the Condence only had those abilities because of Lord English?”</p><p>“Some, but not all. Feferi and Meenah both died before they were old enough to manifest them. However, adult fuchsias can use every existing caste power.”</p><p>“I thought the program used all twelve of your genetic patterns.”</p><p>Kanaya blushed a bit, glancing over at her wife. “We… decided not to tell anyone.”</p><p>“I don’t mean to pry.”</p><p>“Not at all. However, at the time we had to make the choice quickly, and we feared some of you wouldn’t understand why we were making it. In the end, we only used ten of our patterns.”</p><p>“May I ask who else was left out?”</p><p>“Karkat requested we not use his. At first Terezi and I thought it was a choice spurred on by his self-loathing. He explained however, that since his natural lifespan without Sgrub’s interference would have only been thirty to forty human years, it would be cruel to make an entire caste like that.”</p><p>The little grub had finished its shell and was now moving around making little squeaking noises. Rose leaned in to picked it up. “I had noticed the seeming lack of both of those castes. However, it didn’t seem like something I had any place prying into no matter my curiosity.”</p><p>“I’m sorry I didn’t confide in you.”</p><p>“Not at all. I understand why you didn’t.” Rose stood up again, the grub cradled in her arms. “The current question is, now what?”</p><p>Kanaya was staring at the grub in her Wife’s arms, thinking, “I don’t suppose the goddess of fortune currently standing in front of me has any ideas?”</p><p>That smile Kanaya loved so much spread across Rose’s face, a mixture of delight and confidence with a drop of evil genius. “I may have one idea.”</p><p>“And what would that be?”</p><p>“Well, fuchsiabloods live for quiet a while, do they not?”</p><p>“Yes… Their natural lifespan is unknown, as none that were ever recorded died a natural death.”</p><p>“And you’re worried that a troll with those powers may walk in the steps of the old Empress, correct?”</p><p>“That was… the largest fear, yes.”</p><p>“Kanaya, light of my life, do you remember when we talked at length about the possibility of having a child.”</p><p>“Why yes, of course…” She trailed off. Rose was positively beaming. That discussion had been a long one, detailed, with worries voiced and assuaged from both parties. It wasn’t one she’d forget.</p><p>“I do believe two goddesses would be up to the task. If you’re on board, of course?” Rose, ever the dramatic, offered her hand palm up as if asking for a dance.</p><p>Kanaya’s lips twitched, a small smile wiping away some of the lines on her face, replacing them with far more pleasant ones which Rose couldn’t get enough of, “That sounds lovely.”</p><p>She took her wife’s hand, and was pulled in for a kiss, slightly farther apart than normal, as Rose still had the grub cradled in her other arm.</p><p>They broke apart, Kanaya giving Rose a little boop on the nose that made her giggle. Neither of them would normally act this flirty in public, or at work for that matter. But this was a special moment, and they both allowed themselves to enjoy it.</p><p>“As much as I’d love to seclude ourselves alone for the next week, I’m afraid we should get back to some semblance of work.”</p><p>“You’re right. She’ll be fine with her hatchmates until we’re all done. With you watching her, nothing bad can happen.”</p><p>Rose giggled again, more than a little pink painted on her cheeks. “One home found, one hundred sixty-three to go.”</p><p>“The carapacians will sort out that matter.”</p><p>The two shared one last parting kiss before going back to work.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This is legit just me giving happy endings to all the characters. Earned happy endings, but happy endings all the same.<br/>Also fixing some stuff that doesn't make sense/bothered me in the HS2 timeline. Like them having human kids when they're immortal. Seriously, that would suck so much.<br/>Chapter names are the hardest part.<br/>Thank you as always for all the Kudos!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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